Outdoor Gear For Girls

Article by Sarah Stirling

Monday 19th January 2009

It’s hard to remember that twenty years ago most outdoor clothing was unisex, rectangular and drab. Once gear technology started shaping up, it developed in dramatic leaps and bounds. Technical fabrics demanded performance fit to make them work better; performance fit highlighted the need for use-specific gear and, as the outdoor gear market expanded, more and more styles and colour options became available.

One of the most important aspects of the outdoor gear revolution was the development of women-specific outdoor gear. After all, women aren’t built like small men and shouldn’t have to compromise. Today, you’d be pretty surprised if an outdoor gear shop didn’t have a women-specific section.

Yet there still isn’t as much women-specific gear available as there is men’s, though. Why not?

A product tailored precisely to the needs of women: the Moon Eclipse Climbing Pants in action

The answer is simple really: manufacture is limited by demand. Ben of Moon Clothing told me “it can be very, very difficult to persuade retailers to buy women’s clothing.”

“It’s so disappointing when you design a really special women’s product, and outdoor shops say: ‘No thanks, it won’t sell,’” sighs Stuart from PrAna.

Tanya from The North Face has a theory why, in general, women don’t buy as much outdoor gear as men: “There are more men who are prepared to keep upgrading to the season’s all singing, all dancing, best you can get products. Women seem to be more interested in the practical uses of the item rather than the latest technological trend.”

And perhaps Lucy Creamer speaks for lots of outdoor women when she says: “I don’t like looking like a complete climbing geek. I like to retain my own identity.”So why should you invest in specifically designed outdoor clothing?

If women all buy more women's specific gear, the market will expand; we’ll all have a bigger range of stuff to choose from and more scope for customising our own outdoor identities. Let’s not compromise, girls!

For summer or indoor climbing/bouldering or short bursts of outdoor activity, you don’t necessarily need to wear technical fabrics. There’s more to performance than technical fabric though.

“PrAna tops are designed to have a comfortable but attractive cut for activities, without looking too techy,” explains Stuart from PrAna. “For those who want a bit more performance, our dry balance range is cotton with polyester on the inside - it wicks but looks like a regular product on the outside.”

Patagonia’s T-shirts have spandex added to the collars to keep them in shape, and taped seams so you can climb in them again and again without finding an unraveling seam or baggy hem. Both companies use quality recycled poly and organic fabrics that feel soft against the skin.

You could buy a cheap T shirt from the high street and get another when it quickly wears out: but wouldn’t you rather support climbing brands than Topshop?

“Us girls like climbing in hoodies,” says pro climber Katherine Schirrmacher. “Ben Moon noticed this and designed a climbing-specific one.” An outdoor brand hoodie combines the warmth we all love with practical features and performance fit.

All women agreed on this one, including Lucy Creamer: “I totally live in my Marmot sports tops. They have an integral bra, look good and feel comfortable”. Fellow top-climber Emma Twyford says: “I much prefer to climb in a proper sports top that offers support.”

Top British female climber Lucy Creamer putting her Marmot sports top to good use at Split Rock Quarry, Somerset (UK)

What’s the benefit of investing in trousers from an outdoor brand? Aren't high street ones just the same thing? Actually, they're not.

The stitching on outdoor trousers needs to withstand dynamic activity. Waistbands and fastenings need to be designed for comfort under harnesses and back packs. Fabrics need to be durable. Fit needs to be comfortable and allow movement. Outdoor brands spend a lot of time working on patterns and getting athletes to test their prototypes so their products perform and last.

“The seams on our trousers are triple needle-stitched and overlocked,” explains Stuart from PrAna. “The colours won’t fade, the fabric washes nicely and the fit is comfortable and flattering in outdoor conditions.”

Breathability, waterproofing, weight and comfort are all affected by fit. Articulation allows your sleeves, jacket and trousers to move with you. More shaped items use more fabric, are more complicated to sew together and are therefore more expensive to make.

2: Features

Adding features adds price. Mountain Hardwear estimate that adding a pit zip adds £20 to a jacket, and a roll top close on a hood adds £5.

3: Fabric

You get what you pay for with fabric. Think about what you will use the hard shell for: cheaper fabrics can be lighter and softer. For extreme conditions you need an expensive fabric like three-layer Gore-tex, which combines topnotch durability, waterproofing, wind resistance and breathability.

4: Fabrication

A good jacket is as tidy on the inside as it is outside. Fat seams don’t breathe, nor do huge strips of waterproof tape. Top end jackets these days are often glued rather than sewed, so the seams are flat, bendy and stretchy.

The following jacket is a good example of a top-end women's hard-shell:

One aspect of the women's gear issue you can generalize about is that women tend to feel the cold more than men! Down provides more warmth per ounce than any other material because of its ability to trap warm air. It is also lighter than synthetic ‘wadding’, is more compressible, lasts longer and drapes more luxuriously close to your body.

The ‘fill power’ of a jacket is the volume in a given quantity of the down inside it. 400 fill is low grade budget and 800 fill is top quality.

The real test of a down jacket lie in its baffles (the stitches that control the down distribution): bad design causes down to settle and leaves cold spots.

A fleece with a long pile is an appealingly tactile item and a very breathable midlayer. Wear a windproof layer over it to trap air. The Mountain Hardware Monkey Woman is a superb example of a long-pile fleece designed for women.

Both Arc’teryx and Mountain Hardwear commented that significantly fewer women buy soft shells than men. If you’ve already got a hard shell and a midlayer do you really need a soft shell as well?

Soft shell jackets and trousers are made of bonded fabrics: generally fleece bonded with waterproof or water repellant fabric. They don’t have a membrane so aren’t as waterproof or windproof as hard shells.

Wear a soft shell rather than a hard shell and a fleece to cut weight and add breathability to your system. If it isn’t raining heavily, you will be far more comfortable in a soft and stretchy soft shell than a hard shell.

“Some women hate ‘girly’ coloured outdoor gear. Some top women climbers love to wear pink and don’t feel they have to look like a man to climb as well as one. Everyone has a different approach and you can’t generalise,” says Alison Wright of Gear for Girls.

Katherine Schirrmacher says, “There’s nothing like putting on a bright top to make you feel good and in the mood for doing some physical exercise. I like the invigorating pink of the Moon circles T-shirt.”

There are other natural options to try as well: Marmot have added coconut husks to their base layers, while other companies add bamboo or even silver fibres to make their base layers dry fast, control odour and add UV protection. Geeky or brilliant? You decide…